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IRCTC Login - Quick Online Railway Booking

Want to book railway tickets quickly online? Visit irctc.co.in (e ticket booking site of indian railway). Authenticate yourself by providing 'user id' and 'password'. This is called "IRCTC Login", and the homepage of irctc.co.in is called "IRCTC Login Page".

This is how the login page looks like.

irctc login page

Once you are authenticated successfully, you are ready to go and plan your journey (which we will explain in just a minute).

IRCTC Login Process

It's time to get you started with - "How to login quickly on IRCTC for booking railway tickets faster than anyone else?" So let's go -

Those who don't have a username and password, need to first register to get them. Registration on IRCTC is mandatory for you to be able to do ticket booking. Good thing is that it is absolutely free i.e. there is no fee upfront. Follow the instructions here to signup at irctc registration page.

After registration, you will also have your username and password. If possible, memorize them or note them down somewhere. You'll need them every time you look to do railway reservation online.

Railway reservation can be done online in more than one ways in India. Indian railway has provided many platforms for users to do railway ticket booking online. Those who have smartphone can download and install irctc mobile app - irctc connect, while others can make use of irctc next generation (Indian railways new online reservation system) for booking railway tickets online.

While there are various platforms available for doing online railway reservation, please remember that your irctc login credentials (userid and password) remain same across the platforms.

While logging into the irctc.co.in site you might see something like this -

irctc login error

This error message alerts you that you have entered wrong credentials. Sometimes you genuinely enter the wrong username or password (because you don't remember them correctly since it's long time you last use them) and at other times you enter wring spelling, a typo (userid and passwords of IRCTC- Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, are case sensitive. So, make sure that you enter correct lowercase and uppercase letter while logging-in).

If you don't recall your irctc user id - this will help you retrieving it back.

After entering login details on irctc homepage, you will require to enter the correct captcha code.

if you enter invalid captcha this is shown on irctc login page

Book Railway Tickets Online

You should now be logged into irtc e ticketing page. This is how it will look -

irctc e ticketing page

As you can see, there are various options shown to you. Most of them are self explanatory. For example, you cancel your tickets using "Cancel Ticket" option. Similarly you can book meals for train journey, book packages with confirm ticket, book cabs, flights, and so on.

But most times, after doing irctc-login, you will be interested in booking new railway tickets for your train journey.

There are two options available for railway ticket booking. These are -

Booking railway tickets using "Plan My Journey" option.

Booking railway tickets using "Quick Book" option.

IRCTC Quick Booking

The quick book option is useful for users who know essential details related to journey in advance and are sure about things like - train number, days on which train runs, availability in that train for the quota and class in which they wish to travel. If a user has all this information available, he can immediately book his ticket by using IRCTC's "quick book". It is quite fast.

irctc quick book form

Plan My Journey

Normally, you use the first option - i.e. "Plan my Journey", which allows you to do railway reservation in step by step manner.

plan my travel - irctc

You need no prior information about the train (like it's number or name) or it's travel classes and quota, or it's running schedule, before doing reservation. All will be made available through wizard, as you book your tickets online.

First enter the station from where you wish to commence your journey from in "From Station" field. Similarly, enter destination station in "To Station" field. Select date of journey, ticket type ( e ticket or i ticket). If it's relevant to you, check "I'll book in handicap concession"to get concession/ discount on fare under handicap quota of railway. Submit the form.

Select Trains Between Your Stations

Now you shall see the list of all trains available between the stations you entered, which runs on your journey date. Other useful information about each train like, train name/number, travel time, arrival and departure time, start and end stations, travel distance, running days, and classes available for travel in a train is also displayed. Using this information, select the train that suits you.

Understand this by example shown below. In this example we have chosen "New Delhi" as source station and "Mumbai Central" as destination station, but you can enter stations of your choice and it will work in same way. IRCTC online reservation system lists the following trains.

train between stations shown by IRCTC

If you are interested, to get the availability and fare information, click on travel class shown against each train. This will help you further pin down on train that suits your travel needs and budget.

To get the schedule for a particular train, just click on it's number. For example, clicking on train number '12954' displays the entire route and schedule for the train named - "Rajdhani Express".

train schedule displayed on irctc

Filter Trains to Select Right Train for Travel

You can also filter the trains by using various filtering options. For example, to find the train by 'reserved quota', select one among the following quota's-

By default IRCTC will also list the train starting from nearby stations which fall on same route. You can opt to see only trains which commence from your source station and further reduce the number of trains listed to make train selection easy.

filtering trains by journey class, train types, and stations

After selecting the train, choose the travel class in which you wish to take journey. Upon doing so, the seat availability at a time and option to 'book ticket' is shown.

see current accommodation availability and book tickets on irctc

For the benefit of users, several components of train fare, like base fare, reservation charges, superfast charge, tatkal charge, catering charges, other charges and service tax along with total fare is displayed too.

Choose "Book Now" option to book your train ticket.

Enter Passenger Details

Now enter passenger details on "Journey Details" page. You can also enter these details form previously saved travel list or master passenger list. This lists can be maintained by going to your profile page.

Enter name of all the passengers (not more than 6), their age, and gender. Make berth preference by selecting among lower, upper, side upper, cabin, coupe seats etc... Mark if you are a senior citizen to get concession. Optionally enter you Aadhar card number for ID proof. Identity proof is mandatory at the time of traveling and not at the time of booking.

Please note that the railway ticket is not issued to children below 5 years of age, but you need to provide their details too.

passenger details for reservation on irctc

You will see the mobile number already filled. IRCTC automatically fills this field using the same number you provided at the time of registration. Change this number, if you wish to receive the SMS message containing reservation details on a different number. The SMS message will contain important information such as PNR number, coach and seat number, journey date etc...

You can show this message to TTE (Traveling Ticket Examiner) along with identity proof at the time of journey. There is no need to take print out electronic reservation slip.

Next, enter the captcha. Carefully enter it as it is case sensitive. Submit the details.

Now you will be shown summary of journey details. This shows all the details of your journey and provides options to re-plan your journey (in case you feel you need to correct something, like you want to change journey date, or change passenger names, source/destination stations).

IRCTC Ticket Summary

Now what is left is to make payment.

Make Payment

To make payment on IRCTC, you'll glad to know that multiple options are available for users to pay the ticket booking charges. Total amount to be paid include service charges. To see latest irctc charges go to homepage.

Some of the ways using which you can pay to irctc for booking tickets online are listed below-

irctc e wallet

internet banking

payment gateway/ credit cards/ debit cards

cash card/ irctc prepaid card

EMI option

While most of the above mentioned payment options are something you must be already familiar with, some of the others like cash card, wallets, and EMI are explained below.

Cash cards: There are 3 cash cards that IRCTC presently supports. These are-

ITZ cash card

I cash card

OXI cash card

These cash cards can be used for paying other bills too.

E Wallet - Wallets are like online purse. You can store money in them in advance and it is debited when you make any purchase. You can learn how to make use of e wallets and the advantages they offer in our guides - why use paytm for irctc railway booking and fast tatkal booking using IRCTC e wallet. Wallets are getting more and more popular, especially after govt. of india's demonetization move.

EMI - Using IRCTC EMI option for payment, user can pay charges in monthly installments. Currently only CITI bank account holders can make use of EMI option for paying IRCTC.

IRCTC Login Problems

Sometimes users encounter strange problems while booking their railway tickets. Some of the problems are network related and can be solved by checking the internet connection. Unstable network connections lead to termination of IRCTC user's session, and user will need to login again to book tickets.

On the other hand, if you feel that problem is not network related, and you are still not able to login or your railway booking is interrupted, you can do the following-

Make sure you don't sit idle. If you leave your IRCTC window open, and not do anything for few minutes, you will be automatically logged out.

Don't try to book too many tickets again and again. You might be blocked from doing reservation.

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